Underdog
by FlowerPot21
Summary: It didn't matter how fast they were going, they were all set to come in last anyway...ECN angst, beginning season 4.


_This one's a little different. EC angst as usual, but with Natalia thrown in to make things even more difficult. As usual, Carillon Beach is coming slowly, and as for Toe Steppin'...the direction of that one got lost in translation. May or may not be continued. Enjoy. _

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Underdog

**One**: Calleigh

_I like you, but..._

_I am the underdog, I am the last in line_

_Don't be the enemy, don't stand in back of me_...

--_Underdog_, from Cake and Pie by Lisa Loeb

Calleigh knew that Eric was dating Natalia now.

Not only was it so obvious to Calleigh by the way he tended to let his eyes wander Natalia's body, but she'd also heard from Ryan that something was going on between Eric and Natalia. Calleigh wasn't upset or surprised, and it was then she affectionately gave Ryan the nickname of Scuttlebutt since he seemed to like to gossip so much, both internally and externally...to the press.

Beside that, Calleigh pretty much knew that Eric had found a new one; none of them ever really had names in Calleigh's mind not out of spite, but because she knew him. She knew that whoever he was with, whoever she was, it wasn't going to last and that he would move on to the next hot thing who could barely match him in intelligence or pay grade for that matter. So when she discovered that Eric was dating Natalia, she was glad that at least he took a step up. Natalia Boa Vista was certainly beautiful, intelligent...she was happy for him, she guessed, even knowing that it was bound to go south some time very soon. It was just the way things were with Eric when it came to his personal relationships.

Calleigh never denied that Eric was a sexy, handsome man. She has given him a lingering look every now and then and he doesn't ever really seem to notice or if he did, he didn't show it. Sure, he was absolutely a handsome man, but romantic and sensitive he was not. He was a typical bachelor: no strings, he could have any woman he wanted, and he was gone in the morning. How she knew this was all second-hand, of course. Mostly from his own admissions.

That was when he was still talking to her.

Now though, they barely spoke at all, and he was very tightly wound. Not normal Eric Delko who always had a certain swagger both at work and outside of it; that cocksure attitude that made him attractive and masculine and authoritative. He was still all of those things, but on a more subdued level and he was more...somber, she supposed. Somber, Eric Delko rarely was.

Then there was the roll paper in his kit.

Calleigh only mused about him taking liberties with the supplies in her kit, and she eyed the roll paper, but she didn't bring it up because if he had them, there _had_ to be a good reason, right? She trusted his judgement down the line, and she trusted that he would always remain clean. Ryan made a quip about a pot-smoking kit thief, to which Eric took offense and then she began to wonder, as she laughed in that moment, if that was the reason for the somber mood he'd taken on as of late. Then she thought maybe he was really truly invested in his relationship with Natalia, maybe that proverbial lightbulb went off in his head and decided to actually invest in a relationship. Lately, Eric had nerve to be a cheap bastard too, leaving Calleigh with a lunch bill because he said he was having trouble with the bank.

"_I'm so lucky to have a friend like you,"_ she lamented while giving him a forgiving smile that made his eyes soften and his mannerisms a little less prickly.

Natalia should be so lucky.

Calleigh wasn't jealous of Natalia by any means. Although, she did hope that Eric was doing his best to make her happy and to treat her with some respect and buy her something special here and there. No, she wasn't jealous of Natalia, nor was she bitter at Eric.

But she was, however, on shaky ground with him, unsure of where she stood in the grand scheme of things lately.

She and Eric have been friends since they first began working together, and that friendship has meant so much to her because he was the first man to prove her wrong, that men and women _can_ be the best of friends, can be confidants without letting the attraction get in the way. Calleigh was willing to admit that she'd developed a latent crush, but it was innocent, like a flower blossoming slowly in a frosty spring. But more than anything, the friendship that they had developed mattered far more, and she began to worry about him when he stopped talking to her, stopped coming to her, and little things, like the roll paper, she wasn't sure she could question him about for fear of him turning his back on her.

Calleigh knew that there was something going on with him, something that was causing his work ethic to slip, his finances to give him the appearance of being involved in something unscrupulous, and his inability to open up or trust anyone.

She hoped that he was at least talking to Natalia; they seemed to be spending a lot of time with each other and Natalia was a good listener.

She could see the two of them now, at his place or hers, it really didn't matter; she could see him wrapped up with Natalia, talking to her, sharing a meal, watching movies...things that Calleigh used to do with Eric and they used to talk for hours, sometimes about nothing, sometimes about personal things...it'd been so easy...

Okay, so on some level, she was jealous.

They'd barely broken Natalia in (well, Eric has broken her in very well by now) and now she was stringing him along, rather shamelessly and all Calleigh could think, quite maliciously if she was being completely honest about how she felt, was that it wasn't going to be too long before Natalia was in tears at the knowledge that she'd just been another girl...another fling.

Did that make Eric thoughtless? Commitment-phobic? Cruel? The first two maybe, but Calleigh would never call him cruel. After all, he's not doing anything that women don't allow him to do. How could he possibly be held accountable for his sexual appetite if women kept giving it up freely to him? How could he possibly resist if a little twit shook her perfect little ass at him in a bikini or a miniskirt? That was the culture in Miami: live for today, get laid tonight, leave tomorrow. There was no reasonable expectation of anything lasting, intimate and true.

Calleigh wasn't a prude, but she held herself to higher standards, and she often turned down and despised men like Eric who were so overtly obvious and shameless about their intentions. But she didn't, couldn't despise Eric because she knew that he knew that he could do better than that. _Be_ better than that and Eric would when he was good and ready to stop playing around and start thinking with his heart and not his dick...

But back to their friendship.

It made her blush slightly, thinking about Eric's sexual habits...that and any mention of Eric and the word _dick_ in the same sentence, for that matter. She wasn't supposed to think about that, but she liked him; she wasn't naive and she wasn't blind...she'd have to be not to notice him physically, but she stopped right along that fuzzy line because they worked together. She wasn't the kind of woman Eric wanted anyway. She was too familiar, she had the line (somewhat) clearly drawn, and she was a professional. Entanglements with coworkers always had the possibility of ending badly, but that was just her. Eric obviously didn't feel that way because he was sleeping with Natalia. Still, it was a possibility whether one believed it or not and considering Eric's track record, that was a big possibility.

Of _course_ she knew about his proclivities and his penchant for being an asshole when it came to his love life, but fault him for it she did not because she knew that what she was getting from him far surpassed anything he was giving to those other women.

And maybe even that wasn't a sure thing anymore.

It hurt...to the core it hurt to think that Eric felt like he couldn't talk to her anymore. Calleigh wasn't so much jealous of Natalia as she was threatened by her.

Calleigh shook her head.

It was completely silly.

She looked up and she stopped as she saw Eric and Natalia in the evidence locker, casually talking (secretly fucking)-

_Stop it!_

Eric walked behind Natalia and whatever he did next made her start and she playfully elbowed him, and he smirked as he walked out into the hallway. His eyes met hers and he stopped and he grinned slightly.

He looked tired, a little sad...Calleigh wondered if he was this transparent with Natalia.

"Hey."

"Hey," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Oh nothing," she waved off. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," he sighed. "Just uh..."

He trailed off, shaking his head.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "Nothing."

They stood there for a moment, just looking at each other before Calleigh sighed.

"Well um," she began. "I guess I'll talk to you later then...you can talk to me about anything, you know that, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I do."

With that, he headed down the hall, becoming lost in his thoughts.

Calleigh watched after him.

Calleigh was threatened by Natalia, and it wasn't silly at all.

She was threatened because Natalia was the one Eric wanted to go to now, and Calleigh was okay with that because he looked like he was willing to try with her, make it work. She was willing to accept that because she certainly didn't have PROPERTY OF CALLEIGH DUQUESNE stamped on the bottom of Eric's shoe.

No matter.

She was a patient woman.

Calleigh was happy to wait for him to come to her because if all he had to offer her was his unwavering loyalty and friendship, then goddamn it, she would wait for him with open arms. What that said about how she really, truly felt about Eric, she wasn't sure, and quite frankly, she didn't want to think about that right now.

The question was, did she want it if that was all he _ever_ had to offer?

Hell yes.

Calleigh knew that if she wanted anything from Eric she'd just have to get in line and wait...

Because _hell yes_ she wanted Eric Delko any way she could have him.

**TBC**


End file.
